Quality of Herbal Products

[Guest guest]

Dear Herbalists,

This is an extract from Richters Newsletter which clearly

illustrates the importance of the source of any Herbal Remedy. Either

check out your source VERY carefully or make it yourself......Best

Wishes Penny

 

Extract from the Richters Newsletter.......

12. Fortification and Spiking: New Problem for the Herb Industry

 

By Richard Alan Miller

 

GRANTS PASS, Ore., April 15 -- A new problem has emerged within the

nutritional supplement

industry. Herbal botanicals were once seen as complex substances

composed of dozens or hundreds

of compounds. But the current industry practice is to focus on just one

component known as a

“marker” compound. As a result, the definition of quality has

essentially become the marker level.

This means that most pharmaceutical houses now believe that the higher

the content of the one

component, the better quality the product.

 

It did not take long for someone within the industry to think that they

could take inexpensive

botanicals, add the correct amount of marker compounds, and pass the

mixture off as a more

expensive product. This becomes the origin of the problem of what become

known as product

fortification and spiking. Fortification refers to increasing the amount

of the marker compound

already present. Spiking is adding other compounds not initially found

in the original herb. Over the

last several years, these two names have become somewhat

interchangeable.

 

A historic example of spiking is the Chiu Shu grade (red) ginseng root

from China soaked in kola nut

to add caffeine. An example of fortification is caffeine added to

guarana seed to boost caffeine

above normal levels.

 

A recent example of spiking is oregon grape root mixed with goldenseal

root. Oregon grape root

sells for only $2.20/lb, while goldenseal root sells for up to

$60.00/lb., a price 25 times higher.

Oregon grape root is used as an adulterant for goldenseal root because

the chemistries of the two

herbs are quite similar.

 

Adulteration of goldenseal is easily detected via what is called a

“fingerprint,” or a ratio of specific

chemicals. Oregon grape root has more berberine, while goldenseal has

more hydrastine.

Identification of echinacea is often done by this technique now.

" Fingerprinting " is especially useful in

the essential oil business.

 

Guarana is a seed that naturally contains upward of 6% caffeine (along

with other xanthine alkaloids

such as theobromine and theophyline). Coffee, tea, yerba mate, and kola

nut contain only 2 to 4%.

As such, guarana is extensively used as a natural source of caffeine. Of

course, if the guarana seed

were 30% caffeine, then this would make an even better “energy” pill.

 

There is now a vast amount of pure, natural caffeine available to the

manufacturers from

decaffeinated coffees. This is very cheap to produce and is considered a

by-product from the coffee

industry.

 

The natural caffeine levels of natural substances such as guarana can be

altered in a number of ways.

The normal way is by extraction and concentration. Guarana seed is

soaked in aqueous acidic

alcohol to dissolve the caffeine and other naturally occurring

alkaloids. This solution is then reduced

and mixed with maltodexatran and spray dried.

 

The final product has caffeine levels up to 40%, depending on how much

guarana seed is used. This

is what is known as " guarana extract " and its manufacture is an accepted

industry practice. It is

effective and results in a homogeneous product. It is expensive, as many

pounds of guarana must be

used to make a single pound of extract.

 

The second way to increase levels is through fortification. Taking a

caffeine-containing product and

adding caffeine from a different natural source does this. This is

usually from that collected from the

coffee decaffeination process. This is the most common process, because

it is easy and cheap. It is

also the most easiest to detect.

 

The resulting product is not a single homogenous product and can be

detected by close examination

under a microscope. One needs to use polarized light, which is optically

altered in the presence of

crystalline matter (the added caffeine). With experience, the unaided

eye can also detect it. Guarana

seed and kola nut do not have crystals on their outside surfaces.

 

A third method is a combination of fortification, extraction, and

concentration. This is where the

extract of kola nut is combined with pure caffeine from the

decaffeination coffee process, and then

mixed with maltodexatran and spray dried. As such, this becomes a single

homogenous product and

not detectable with a microscope. It is then sold as " guarana extract "

for more money.

 

The only way to detect this form of alteration is by fingerprinting. The

unusually high levels of caffeine

are a first clue. By using HPLC tools, unusual ratios between caffeine

and the other xanthine

alkaloids can give some history of what happened to this product, and

how it was adulterated.

 

Outright spiking is the addition of pure caffeine to a non-caffeine

containing botanical, and then

processing it by any of the methods described. This is easily detected

by the absence of other

naturally occurring xanthine alkaloids. Similarly, one could add a

synthetic version of any desired

natural marker to any herb with the above methods.

 

The first tip off that this has happened is when the marker looks “too

good” in the analytical data

collected on that crop. Synthetic versions are much purer than their

natural counterparts. Synthetic

caffeine is very expensive, so it is not usually used. However, the

Chinese herb, ma huang, and its

American cousin, mormon tea, often have synthetic ephedrine and

pseudoephedrine added.

 

In October 1999, a federal grand jury indicted a Colorado manufacturer

for fortifying a herbal

medicine product with ephedrine hydrochloride instead of natural

ephedrine from ma huang and with

anhydrous caffeine instead of natural caffeine from kola nut. In further

developments, the Texas

Board of Health issued rules banning the sale of products containing

synthetic ephedrine group

alkaloids.

 

What should be done? First, the public needs to become more informed

about practices to defraud

consumers. Industry should should police the problem to preserve

credibility. And, analytical labs

must learn to detect spiking and fortification.

 

[Richard Alan Miller will speak on the topic of fortification and

spiking at the Herbs 2000

conference in Saskatoon in July.]